Perchance to Dream
by Starlyte
Summary: Naruto gets landed with the job of showing round the narcoleptic new kid, but will he be the one who'll finally get Naruto to knuckle down with his studies? [Naruto x Sasuke] Yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Perchance to Dream

Gah, I suck at writing author notes! So I'll just say that I hope you enjoy the story, yada yada, and for those who don't know:

**nar·co·lep·sy** (när'kə-lěp'sē)  
n. _pl._ **nar·co·lep·sies**  
A disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable, though often brief, attacks of deep sleep, sometimes accompanied by paralysis and hallucinations.

- courtesy of dictionary(dot)com!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I cry myself to sleep at night.

* * *

"What's your punk-ass doing here so early on a Monday morning?" Tsunade flared as the all-too-familiar scrawny blonde edged warily around the door; her eyes fell to the pink slip clutched in his hand, no doubt detailing some misdemeanour the boy had managed to conjure up. "Give it here…" she ordered exasperatedly, holding out a hand whilst the other cradled her head. 

"Sorry to bother you so early in the day, Sannin-sama," Naruto smiled politely as he placed the slip in his headmistress's hand, watching as she unfolded it and studied the contents – her face becoming redder the further down the page she read, finishing and turning her head to glare resolutely at the blue-eyed nuisance.

"_Blackmailing_ a teacher?" she asked incredulously, quoting the note, the small pink leaf of paper flopping morosely to the desk she was sat at. There was a small silence, Naruto unsure of whether he should even bother trying to justify himself or just let her pop a vein shouting in his face as she normally did. He decided on the former, coming to the conclusion that he wasn't completely in the wrong.

"It's not my fault he's been naughty," he replied courteously, a well-practised expression of innocence covering his face.

"Oh what are you, five?" Tsunade snapped, standing from her chair and coming round to the front of her desk, facing Naruto. Although he was marginally taller than she was, he still flinched at the sight of her glowering up at him – he sensed impending doom. "The staff at our college are supposed to be treated with utmost respect," she went on, "a concept which still, despite our best efforts, continues to evade you."

"Yes, Sannin-sama," Naruto churned, not exactly sure of what he was agreeing to, and not particularly listening either.

"Just because you haven't completed your coursework does not give you the right to use a member of staff's personal life against them," the headmistress continued, Naruto avoiding eye contact – gosh, she made it sound so _seedy_. He'd only dropped in casually that he'd seen Kakashi-sensei behind the gym with some other guy when he asked for the long-overdue draft of his coursework. Heck, he didn't even know what blackmail _was_.

"Yes, Sannin-sama," he repeated.

"You're not even listening are you? You're such a pain in my ass, Uzumaki – I don't even know how to punish you for this…" she walked back round her desk and sat haughtily back in her chair, clasping her hands together and peering intently at Naruto, as though some cruel and befitting punishment would materialise on his face. "I suppose first, you will apologise to Hatake-sensei and have your coursework in by tomorrow morning," she began, Naruto looking up, his mouth falling open in horror. She gave him no time to begin talking his way out of it, however, "no arguments! Let me remind you Uzumaki, that if you fail this year you cannot continue to second half of your courses here this Summer. You're on several final warnings from almost all of your subject tutors," she ranted, hoping to instil some sort of focus in the boy to get his act together.

Her threats fell on deaf ears however, as Naruto wasn't even planning on continuing his studies for another year – he really didn't see the point in wasting his time any further, and if he was completely honest the only reason he hadn't left so far was because his friends were all there; he hadn't voiced this to anyone of course, as he knew as soon as he did his tutors would no doubt petition to get him out as soon as possible.

Tsunade opened her mouth to go on after receiving naught but a blank stare from the boy still standing expectantly in front of her desk, waiting for the rest of his punishment, before a knock at her office door was heard. Naruto spun round, glad of the interruption, gazing at the vague outline of someone waiting through the marbled glass panel.

"Come in," the headmistress barked, followed by an immediate twist of the knob as the door swung open. Naruto watched interestedly as a boy around his age entered the room and strode purposefully towards Tsunade's desk, reaching out and handing her an envelope before standing back, hands in his pockets. Both Naruto and Tsunade waited for him to introduce himself, or tell them why he was there, but he just stared indifferently around the office.

Naruto raised his eyebrows at his Tsunade, who did the same back, all previous animosity apparently momentarily forgotten. '_Such a lack of social skills…_' Naruto thought sadly – there was nothing worse than someone who couldn't hold a conversation. There was an awkward silence, until finally:

"Uchiha-kun!" she roared, the boy wincing slightly. "Sorry, I forgot I was expecting your arrival today – had a bit of ah… _bother_ with the student you see behind you," she went on in a more controlled voice, her expression becoming stony as she gestured towards Naruto. The boy turned round briefly and was met by a smile, dazzling to the point of being rather intimidating plastered across the blonde boy's face – it was how he greeted everyone; the favour was not returned however, his beaming face being met with a look of utter confusion before he turned back around.

"It's okay."

"Good, good!" Tsunade bellowed again. '_Mad woman, she needs a bit of volume control_ ', Naruto thought quietly, rolling his eyes. The headmistress and the strange boy continued their 'conversation' – if it could be called that, Tsunade rambling on for record amounts to be met with monosyllabic answers and brief statements from 'Uchiha-kun'.

Naruto surveyed the boy, gathering from what he had bothered listening to of their talk that he was a new student; he was wearing a plain black blazer and shirt with dark grey jeans – nothing out of the ordinary. His hair though, Naruto decided, was _cool_. It was a shiny, jet-black colour and stuck up at the back in a way that the blonde decided he would try to replicate with some gel that night, bangs falling lazily into his face at the front, matching his dark eyes.

"…I'll just get you your timetable," Tsunade's voice permeated Naruto's stupor, and he looked up to see her rummaging through a drawer before procuring a sheet and handing it to the boy. She received no thanks.

"I trust my brother told you of my… condition?" he asked whilst gazing down at his lessons, which was probably the most he'd said throughout the entire interview. Naruto's ears pricked at his voice, so full of determined calm – condition? What sort of condition? And his brother was – oh, of course! Uchiha-sensei must be this brother he was talking about; Naruto wondered how he hadn't noticed the striking resemblance immediately.

"Ah yes, all of your staff have been informed," the headmistress replied, smiling kindly. "Now, you're going to be late if you don't get a move on," she tagged on, glancing at her watch, before her eyes came up and met the blonde haired idiot she'd almost forgot she hadn't yet punished. "Naruto… you're to come back here tomorrow morning to give me time to think of your punishment, but in the meantime you can apologise to Hatake-sensei and pull some coursework out of your lazy ass."

Naruto groaned as he turned towards the door to start making his way to History, his first lesson of the morning before Tsunade suddenly continued, "Wait a moment!"

He turned to see his headmistress standing up and striding round her desk in his direction – was she going to clout him?! He flinched as she extended an arm, only to feel himself being pulled inwards towards the boy still standing in the centre of the room by a forceful hand on his back; the Uchiha kid looked as confused as he was as he found a hand on his own back, the two boys being pulled inwards until they were facing each other, an arm's length apart.

"Uzumaki Naruto, meet Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade beamed down at him, which was more scary than anything. After not responding, Naruto received a sharp elbow to the ribs and a hissed, "shake his hand, idiot."

"Ow!" he growled, rubbing the offended area with one hand and extending the other begrudgingly. "N… nice to meet you," he mumbled, not making eye contact – there was something about this 'Sasuke' that rubbed him up the wrong way. He felt a hand in his, and was surprised by how cold it felt despite the warmness of the office they were in.

"Yeah."

That was apparently all the greetings he was going to receive; Naruto wondered briefly what Tsunade was introducing them for, looking up expectantly when she didn't talk for several moments. "Oh! Right, well that's that. Naruto, you are to escort your new friend to all of his lessons, including the ones you do not share. You can tell your teachers you were running an errand for me if this makes you late for anything."

'_My new friend?_' Naruto's mind raged incredulously – that was a little presumptuous, Sasuke obviously sharing his consternation as his dark eyebrows contracted slightly at the term. Great, now he had to ferry this anti-social stranger to all of his lessons; '_how troublesome_' he thought, echoing his friend Shikamaru's favourite phrase. Tsunade was conveniently oblivious to the possibility this could backfire in any way, looking from one to the other, smiling eerily.

"Well, get going!" she cheered, eschewing the two boys from her office with the hands still placed on their backs. The door swung shut behind them, leaving them standing alone together in the corridor – they were both a little late to their lessons, as there was no sounds of bustling students making their way to their classrooms, no stampeding of feet. Naruto groaned, looking over at Sasuke who was peering at him boredly.

"Alright then, let's get this over with – can I see your timetable?" he asked, politely as he could muster to this unknown quantity. Wordlessly, Sasuke reached into his pocket pulling out the piece of paper and handing it to Naruto. Scanning it briefly, he concluded, "right, you've got Chemistry first this morning, and then… you're in my art class this afternoon!" he checked the sheet again; this guy didn't seem at all like the type to be interested in art, one of Naruto's favourite subjects.

"Okay."

"Right then, follow _me_ to Chemist_ry_!" Naruto rhymed, lifting an arm and pointing theatrically down the corridor to the right. Sasuke looked at him like he was quite retarded before walking after the blonde boy, who had sped off down said corridor.

Despite being quite the anti-Naruto, Naruto found himself being quite intrigued by the Uchiha, most probably owing the this 'condition' touched upon in Tsunade's office. He decided to be quite tactless and ask the boy up front, turning round to face the boy, continuing to walk backwards down past the classrooms on either side. "Oi, Sasuke… I can call you that right?" Naruto added hastily, knowing his fondness for calling people by their first name sometimes caused offence.

"It's fine," he replied, his countenance unchanging.

Naruto sighed in relief. "Well, Sasuke – what was that 'condition' thing that you talked about in Sannin-sama's office?"

He immediately wished he'd never mentioned it as Sasuke's eyes flared and he stopped dead in his tracks. The whole atmosphere seemed to change – Naruto swallowed heavily as he sensed such an aura of anger radiating from the formerly passive boy standing before him. '_Oops, must be pretty personal_.'

"You were not _supposed_ to hear anything about that," Sasuke hissed quietly, causing the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck to stand on end. "You were not _supposed_ to be in the office when I met the headmistress."

"Sorry…" Naruto mumbled, realising he had touched a pretty big nerve in the boy.

"Just… let's not talk about it again," Sasuke said, with considerably less venom. Naruto chanced a nervous smile, to which Sasuke merely rolled his eyes tiredly. "You were taking me to Chemistry?"

"Oh! Right…" Naruto jumped, completely forgetting what he was in the middle of as he and the Uchiha stood facing one another. He whirled around, and continued down towards the college science labs, though he didn't say another word to Sasuke, and unsurprisingly was likewise ignored.

* * *

"LUNCH TIME!" was the resounding yell from a certain blonde sat at the back of the History class room with pinpoint precision as the second hand on the clock ticked to 12:30. He began feverishly stuffing his paper and books into his bag, as Umino-sensei scowled at him unnoticed from the front of the room. 

"Naruto, how many times? It is rude to start packing up before I have dismissed the class," he berated half-heartedly, knowing that even a lightning strike couldn't stop the boy if there was food being served somewhere; when Naruto thought at all, it was with his stomach.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei!" he replied, turning upon his teacher with the cheesiest of grins before leaning down to Shikamaru who was sat next to him, packing his things away at an unbearably slow pace. "Hurry up Shika, it's baked potato day!"

"Don't you have to go and meet the new kid?" he asked irritated – Shikamaru was not one to be rushed. Naruto pondered for a moment.

"He's a big lad. I'm sure he can find the lunch room by himself," he decided, though he made a mental note to make sure Sasuke actually _did_ get something to eat. He was far too skinny.

"Why's he joined so late in the year any way? We only have one term left," Shikamaru asked, cutting across Naruto's little train of thought, only serving to start a new one.

"He didn't say…"

Why had Sasuke started so late in the academic year? What was the point in leaving whatever college he came from to come to this dump for a term? Naruto almost forgot about his lunch before Shikamaru tugged on his arm, having finally packed away before heading towards the door. They arrived at the lunch hall, Naruto wasting no time in pushing his way to the front of the queue for his baked potato with ramen noodles, Shikamaru opting for chicken soup, rolling his eyes at his friend's unnecessary excitement at the prospect of food.

The two of them made their way over to the familiar table, already there were Kiba, Lee and Chouji, the latter's plate piled high with a bit of everything off the menu, Kiba with a meaty burger and Lee with a leafy green salad. Naruto chose a seat facing the main doors to the hall so he could see Sasuke coming in – he'd have to find him by the end of lunch anyway to take him to their art class.

"Oi oi, Naruto!" Lee grinned toothily at him, giving a customary thumbs up. "Looking forward to gym class tomorrow with Gai-sensei?!" he asked excitedly – honestly, if Lee wasn't talking about how he'd broken his own record for one-handed press ups he was jellying with excitement over their mandatory physical education class.

"I think you're the only one in the whole college who is," Naruto replied truthfully; Gai-sensei could reduce the strongest man to tears, or make them sweat so much that tears were no longer physically possible. The blonde shuddered as he wondered if he could come up with a plausible excuse to skip his class, but to no avail – if he said he had a sore leg, Gai would make him walk on his hands. If he said he had a headache, he'd tell him to run it off.

"I don't know why I seem to be the only student who looks forward to such intense training sessions! They are most – _ahh!_" Lee faltered, his eyes falling on something at the other end of the room. Naruto turned his head in the direction Lee faced, seeing at once the cause for distraction – Sakura had just bought her lunch and was making her way over to her table where Ino was already sat.

"Lee, instead of going all heart-eyed on us whenever you see her, have you ever considered talking to Sakura?" Shikamaru drawled, having also deduced the reason for Lee's current stupor.

"I don't see what's so great about her," Kiba deadpanned, Lee immediately twisting back to face the boy sat opposite him, his mouth a tight 'o' in anger, enormous eyebrows contracted alarmingly.

"How can you not see the beauty of Sakura-chan?! The hair… the eyes… they sparkle with the energy of _youth!_" Lee argued violently, banging his fist upon the table as he emphasized the last word.

"Okay man, calm down," Kiba replied, raising his hands in surrender, "but Shika's right, you should just talk to her or something."

"Perhaps you're right! Women like a forceful man, no?" Lee reasoned with himself. Naruto snorted into his noodles.

"Sure, Lee. Go for it," he encouraged. Without much further ado, Lee wolfed down what remained of his salad with worrying vigour before bounding over to the girls' table before anyone could tell him he had a large quantity of green gunk between those pearly whites he liked to show off so much.

"Tragic…" Kiba mused as he watched. Naruto however, was less interested as he turned his attention back to the door; Sasuke hadn't come to lunch yet. Was he lost? '_Nah, he would have just followed all of the students coming here. Maybe he's just not hungry_', he assured himself, but he couldn't help but feel a knot of guilt in his chest – Sasuke was the new kid, he obviously hadn't had time to make new friends yet and something told him that wasn't an easy thing for him to do in the first place. Naruto vowed to make another effort to get to know him, admittedly he hadn't tried very hard upon their first meeting; one art class would be enough to make Sasuke like him, it was decided.

"You're remarkably pensive today Naruto," Shikamaru observed after a whole quarter of an hour of silence from the normally-outspoken blonde. Naruto hadn't noticed the time pass as he stared fixatedly at the door to the lunch hall, and was startled when he realised there was only ten minutes till lessons started – where was that idiot? Didn't he get hungry?

"Am I?" he replied vaguely, sipping the juice out of his carton. Shikamaru did not pursue the subject - he never got anything remotely intelligible from the blonde at the best of times, hence it would be almost impossible if the moron was distracted by something or other. "Gotta go," the blonde added suddenly, lifting from his seat and taking his empty tray over to one of the dinner ladies before exiting the hall to find Sasuke.

'_So… if I were an anti-social, kinda weird kid, where would I have spent the last hour?_' he wondered, coming up with no obvious answer – role-play was not Naruto's forte; he decided on wandering rather aimlessly around college, occasionally asking a random passer-by whether they'd seen 'the new kid with black hair'.

"Um, yeah, I saw him going into Sannin-sama's office about ten minutes ago," was the answer he eventually received from a small, brown haired girl near the Biology labs. '_Great, he _would_ be at the other end of the college_' Naruto grumbled as he sped off towards the headmistress's office, aware that he'd probably be late for art and get sent to her anyway with another pink slip.

He rounded the corner of her corridor breathlessly, in time to see a familiar blazer and pair of grey jeans disappearing down the other end. "OI! SASUKE!" he bellowed between gasps for breath. The black haired boy stopped before rounding slowly, visibly frowning at Naruto's rudeness. The blonde didn't care, as per usual, walking up towards him after regaining his composure, "where the hell've you been all lunch?" he shouted, even though Sasuke could hear him perfectly well.

"I wasn't hungry."

"You… weren't hungry?" Naruto repeated confusedly, unable to comprehend how someone could not want food in the designated eating time. On the verge of asking how that was possible, Naruto remembered his pledge to make Sasuke like him and decided not to push the subject as he'd probably just annoy the boy. "Well, we're gonna be late for Art if we don't get a move on!" he chirped brightly, trying to permeate the gloom that seemed to shroud Sasuke. Receiving only a nod, Naruto turned on his heel and began walking towards the art department, expecting the other boy to catch up.

When he didn't, Naruto slowed down until they were level, Sasuke turning his head to try and ignore the blonde. Unperturbed, Naruto dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a bag of M&Ms, opened them and offered one to Sasuke. "Want one?"

"No thank you," the Uchiha replied, giving the bag a disdainful look, as though it offended him in some way.

"But you must be starving, you've had nothing to eat!"

"I had something this morning."

"Yeah, but you missed lunch! The most important meal of the day!"

"That would be breakfast," Sasuke sighed tiredly. Naruto realised that it would perhaps take more than just an art lesson to make Sasuke like him. Perhaps two? He liked a challenge, as long as it wasn't particularly academic; he remained silent until they reached the art rooms – a separate room detached from the main building. Naruto liked art very much, so much as to call it his favourite lesson, and he actually tried _hard_ in it.

"Sorry we're late, Kurenai-sensei!" he hollered as he entered the room, his voice echoing off the cold, brick walls as the teacher rubbed her temples resignedly – she had hoped Naruto would be absent that day, what with her hangover from hell from an evening with Sarutobi-sensei.

"Whatever Uzumaki, just sit down. Oh – is this the new kid?" she asked, red eyes falling upon Sasuke.

"Yeah! This is Uchiha Sasuke!" Naruto piped, fluttering his arms like a game-show host showing off a prize. Kurenai nodded, looking Sasuke up and down before telling him to take a seat.

Naruto snaked his way through the randomly placed, paint spattered tables to where he sat – not surprisingly he had a table to himself in the furthest corner where it was hard even for him to distract anyone; yet, as stated before, Naruto likes a challenge. Sasuke was unsure of where to sit – he would have preferred his own table like Naruto, but seeing as they all had at least one person on them he walked over to the one next to Naruto's where there was only one other student, a boy with long, blonde hair and a very feminine face. He went to sit down next to him.

"Don't sit there. Sasori'll cap you," the boy said as he watched the Uchiha moving towards the other seat. Sasuke grumbled, looking around for somewhere else, praying that a certain other blonde wouldn't –

"Ah, it's okay Sasuke! You can sit on my table!" came Naruto's voice, having watched what had happened, leaving Sasuke no choice but to make his solemn way over to Naruto's table and begrudgingly taking the seat next to him. The blonde grinned again, '_Great! Operation Get-Sasuke-to-Like-Me is working! He's sitting next to me!_'

Naruto was given little time to celebrate as Kurenai-sensei's weary voice carried over the classroom. "Right, I told you all to take portrait photos of yourselves over the holiday, so please get those out and get on with a painted composition," she managed before leaning forward and resting her head on the table. "Paper," she said, pointing a hand to the left, "and paints," pointing another hand to the right. There was an enormous scraping of chairs as the class rose to collect their equipment.

Back in their seats, Naruto mounted his paper on an easel and began mixing paints, looking at a picture of himself with his tongue out. Sasuke just stood there with paper and paint, not wanting to disturb their haggard-looking teacher to ask what he was supposed to do, as he wasn't aware of the need for self-photographs.

"Ah! Sasuke, don't just sit there, use one of my photos!" Naruto laughed as though he'd read his mind. Sasuke muttered a thanks and looked through the rest of the pile of photographs next to Naruto – every last one of him pulling some kind of ridiculous face. Sighing, he decided on the least outrageous one and began to mix his own paint.

"Sasori, why are you late?" Kurenai-sensei croaked some time after everyone had begun their work, looking up at the red-haired boy who had just strolled into the room.

"I don't know."

"Whatever. Go and sit down," the teacher sighed before returning her head to the table. Sasori made his way around the tables towards the one next to Naruto and Sasuke's.

"Sasori! Woo!" the blonde haired boy whom had spoke to Sasuke before cheered, standing up in his own Mexican wave. Naruto watched amusedly as the blonde, Deidara, received no recognition from the red head, yet carried on smiling any way. "I got all your stuff ready, 'cause I'm dead good, yeah!"

"Thanks. What are we doing?" Sasori asked, slinging his bag underneath the table after getting out his own photographs. Naruto half-listened to their conversation as he continued to mix his paints carefully – he'd have to take time over this if he didn't want himself to look stupid in front of Sasuke, who, he noticed, had already started painting. He watched for a moment as the boy's pale wrist flicked delicately over the paper, returning to his pallet and mixing colours with a speed and accuracy that made Naruto want to cry.

'_Idiot! Get working, or he'll think you're an even bigger retard than he already does_,' Naruto mentally berated himself, turning his attention back to his pallet as he continued to attempt to mix the correct colours. Half an hour passed in silence that rang round the whole classroom, every student determined on doing well on this new unit of work, seeing as they'd all failed miserably in the last – everyone except Sasori of course, who was a modern-day Van Gogh.

"Deidara, your ears stick out more than that," Naruto heard the redhead deadpan as he paused working to see how his friend was doing. Deidara turned red and gasped in shock.

"They do not!" he exclaimed, clamping a hand over either ear and glaring at Sasori, before turning to Sasori's work to try and find some error he could pick out. There was nothing. "You… you're… uh… you've made yourself too handsome!" he decided upon, obviously believing this to be a befitting criticism.

"To make myself 'too handsome', I'd have to be considered handsome in the first place," Sasori commented, no change in the tone of his voice as he continued with his work; Deidara looked thoughtful for a moment, evidently trying to work out what he'd meant, deciding on a muttered '_Fathead_' before returning to his piece. Sasori smirked. Naruto loved listening in on their arguments, even though he had much more important things to do at the moment, like proving that he was much better at art than Sasuke apparently was.

Naruto turned back to look at Sasuke's work – it was coming along surprisingly well, he'd painted Naruto's hair and head, and was now focusing on his facial features. Naruto gazed morosely at his own canvas – he'd barely painted in the outline. He sighed before readying his paint brush for some hardcore-work for the remainder of the lesson, before a loud thud was heard next to him.

Naruto didn't quite know what to make of what he saw when he turned, which was Sasuke face down in his pallet. '_What's he doing?! Has he passed out?!_' He stared, unbelieving at the stationary boy next to him, noticing vaguely that the entire class had turned towards their table at the noise – Naruto didn't know what to do.

"Er… Sasuke?" he tried, leaning in closer, close enough to hear him… _snoring?! _He'd fallen asleep?!

Naruto reached out tentatively, placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, he said louder, "Sasuke!" and shook him slightly. He heard a small groan come from the dark-haired boy, and he began to stir. Relief mingled with Naruto's intense confusion as Sasuke sat up, looking round to find the entire class gaping at him; he raised a hand to his face, which was covered in paint, his fingers briefly wiping above his right eye before bringing them in front of him and gazing at the purple liquid that covered them.

"Shit," he murmured, before standing abruptly and darting out of the classroom faster than Naruto had ever seen any person achieve; he continued to stare, in complete bewilderment as the door swung shut in his wake, Kurenai-sensei raising her head and muttering a brief '_Wuzzat?_', clearly having fallen asleep herself.

Without thinking too much about what he was doing, Naruto rose from his own seat and made his own, albeit slower way out of the classroom to find Sasuke and discover just what had happened moments before.

"Strange kid," Deidara remarked into the stiff silence. Sasori nodded in assent.

* * *

'_Shit, that Uchiha sure can go fast!_' Naruto panted as he rounded yet another corner in his scourge of the college. '_He doesn't even know where anything is!_' Not one to give up, he continued darting down corridors, sticking his head into empty classrooms and stock cupboards until he had to stop for breath. '_The only places he knows is Sannin-sama's corridor and the… Chemistry labs!_' 

Turning, Naruto resumed his hurried tailing of Sasuke in the direction of the rooms he had led him to that morning, receiving several strange looks from students he passed and a few '_no running in college!_'s from miscellaneous teachers; skidding into the science labs, he popped his head briefly into each of the classrooms, all of which currently had a class in them, so Sasuke wouldn't have gone in there.

Stopping and gazing round at this unfamiliar part of the college, Naruto's eyes fell upon the sign for a gentleman's bathroom hung upon a door to his right – could he be in there? Naruto reached out and placed his hand on the knob, before stopping to calm himself down after his hectic rush around the building. He took several deep breaths, annoyed that it was taking much longer than usual for his heart rate to turn to normal before he twisted his hand and pushed on the door.

Sasuke was stood at a sink at the far end of the room, scrubbing at his face, trying to remove the paint, occasionally checking his appearance in the mirror in front of him. Naruto didn't say anything, he couldn't, just watched the boy as he scratched at stubborn bits of paint on his forehead and pulled it out of his hair, apparently not having noticed the blonde enter the room.

After a few moments of sustained silence, Sasuke looked up towards the mirror, beads of water trickling slowly down his face carrying the last pigments of colour down the drain with them. Naruto finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Why have you followed me?" came a calm voice from the dark-haired boy, leaving Naruto's mouth agape – Sasuke hadn't turned round once to look at him, how the hell did he know he was there? Naruto closed his mouth, opening it again and again, searching for the right words to say; why _had_ he followed Sasuke? The new kid? The _weird_ new kid? Why was he burning with such curiosity that he couldn't stand it?

"What… what happened in class?" he asked tentatively, his voice cracked a little as he coughed to clear it.

"I fell asleep," was the curt reply received from the boy at the opposite end of the room, the boy who had not yet turned round to look at him.

"Yeah I know, but why? Art's not _that_ boring is it?" Naruto added with a weak chuckle, his heart not in it in the slightest as small water droplets continued to run down Sasuke's cheeks, giving the impression of tears; something twisted in Naruto's chest as he took a few steps towards the pale boy, paler than usual, after no response was given. Sasuke visibly bristled as he heard the blonde's hesitant movements closer to where he was stood, and he finally took his eyes from the mirror and fixed them upon Naruto.

Naruto stopped immediately in his tracks, bright blue eyes meeting with those cold, dark, and so very _empty_ black ones – not for the first time that day he felt the entire atmosphere of the room change as the boy stood facing him radiated some obscure air that even Naruto could clearly read as '_Leave me alone._'

"No, no it's not," Sasuke spoke, in a voice of deliberated calm in response to Naruto's question from before. He spoke quietly, yet Naruto could not help but recoil slightly as he went on. "I have narcolepsy. It makes me fall asleep."

The bitterness in his voice, coupled with what he'd just heard made Naruto's eyes widen slightly, as he wondered briefly what it must be like to just… fall asleep without warning – however this wasn't the most important thing to him at the moment, not when Sasuke was in front of him, emitting such hate, waiting for him to reply.

"Well, I'm not gonna pretend I understand what you go through at all, because I don't," he began, trying to steady his voice, "but seriously, there's no need to freak out. If it's the other students you're worried about, they'll have all forgotten about it tomorrow – someone else will have done something stupid by then to take their minds off it, and it's usually me," he grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Naruto wished more than anything he could have seen inside Sasuke's head – his expression was so infuriatingly unreadable, he didn't know whether Sasuke wanted to laugh or shove his head down a nearby toilet.

"It will happen again. It always does."

"Well if it does, I'll be right there to do something stupid to take people's minds off it straight away!" Naruto proclaimed, smiling reassuringly and punching the air with his fist. He didn't know exactly why he was making such a promise, just that he wanted Sasuke to know that he didn't have to worry anymore.

"You can't do that every time," Sasuke replied, still in his curt tone, but with a slight sigh.

"Wanna bet?" Naruto flared slightly in enthusiasm. "Any excuse to cause trouble! And I've already got a few ideas on how to smooth this one over!"

"Fine," Sasuke replied indifferently, folding his arms and surveying Naruto steadily and the blonde could tell he didn't really believe in him in the slightest; well, that was just another challenge, wasn't it? Naruto grinned at the prospect. "Why do you smile so much?" Sasuke asked, as more of a derogatory comment than a question.

"Habit," Naruto replied, still smirking, "plus I have to make up for people like you."

"Hn."

"Well… I suppose we should go back to class. Unless you wanna go get something to eat? The tuck shop's still open," Naruto offered, remembering that Sasuke hadn't eaten lunch, still unable to understand how someone could resist the lure of the lunch hall.

"I'd rather just sign out and leave," Sasuke sighed, finally taking his eyes off Naruto. He walked towards the door, watched intently by the blonde boy, placing his hand on the knob before pausing. "Thanks anyway…" he murmured, before exiting. Naruto listened as his footsteps faded down the outside corridor. Naruto froze for a moment. '_He thanked me! Plan must be working!_' he thought happily before taking off towards the art rooms for what remained of his lesson.

He couldn't help but get excited as he planned the best course of action to take to stop the story of 'the new kid falling asleep in class' from spreading, and how, if he did well, Sasuke might actually start to like him. Deciding on a suitably devious method, his thoughts fell again to what it would be like to live with… what was it… '_narcepsoly'_? Boy, Shikamaru was right – he _was_ being pensive today; he barely noticed where his feet were taking him before he found himself face-to-face with the door to his art room. Taking a deep breath, he re-entered the room and made his way to his seat.

People immediately began suffocating him with questions as soon as he was sat down, '_What happened with the new guy?' 'How weird was that? He just like, fell asleep!' 'Has he got something wrong with him?_"

Naruto waved aside their queries impatiently, gesturing round to the class to gather round his table closer, just in case their comatose teacher overheard. "Yeah yeah, he's fine. But _guess what _I saw Kakashi-sensei getting up to behind the gym last Friday?"

* * *

Well, there you go! Sorry if there's a lot of mistakes in it, but I can't read over my own work, 'cause I just get depressed by how rubbish it is and then nothing would get uploaded!

Reviews and constructive criticism would be immensely appreciated. C:

Lots of love, Daisie. x


	2. Chapter 2

Perchance to Dream CH2

Aw, thank you so much for all those lovely reviews! It's actually the most I've ever received for a single chapter, let alone a first one. :D

On a serious note, I do hope no-one thinks I'm making fun of people with narcolepsy, because that isn't the point of the story at all – I like Sasuke with a _reason_ to be angsty, (and he does, trust me!), instead of just being a rich, snobby muppet like in most stories.

And on a less serious note, isn't NaruSasu _sooo_ much better than SasuNaru? XD I mean I'll read both, but post-timeskip Naruto is the biggest seme going.

Naruto yawned, stretching his arms above his head until he felt the satisfying '_click'_ of his shoulders as he walked through the front gates of the college – still half asleep of course, and ten minutes late, but what's a guy to do when he forgot to set his alarm clock? He gazed around the reception area at a few stragglers, and those lucky people whose lessons hadn't begun yet before he made his way towards his English classroom; '_hang on a sec, was that–?_'

"Sasuke?" Naruto croaked in his morning-voice, his eyes snapping back to focus on the skinny, black-haired and rather angry looking teen standing by the doors to the refectory. As he watched, Sasuke folded his arms across his chest and made his way slowly over to the blonde.

"You're late," he growled, glaring at Naruto before stopping some feet away, standing rigidly in the middle of the entrance hall; Naruto peered blearily at him, memories of the situation from the day before racing thick and fresh through his mind – he cleared his throat anxiously, scratching loosely behind his ear as his eyes dropped from Sasuke's face to the ground. Registering vaguely that Sasuke was probably feeling a lot more embarrassed than he was, Naruto wondered whether it would be a good idea to bring it up, let him know that there was no reason to dwell on it, or just pretend it had never happened.

"Yeah… I'm always late," he replied dimly, deciding on the latter course of action before turning uncertainly away from the pale boy and again set off towards his classroom. After a few steps, his feet faltered as something finally slid into place, permeating his sleepy haze. '_Shoot!'_

"Remembered something?" he heard the Uchiha snap from over his shoulder, making him cringe and slap a palm to his forehead.

"I'm… supposed to take you to your class…" Naruto mumbled, turning back round to face the stony-faced boy. He attempted a trademark sheepish grin, that well-practised 'I'll-have-my-work-done-by-tomorrow-sensei' grin, but Sasuke was seemingly impervious to his charm, his eyebrows contracting and lips tightening.

"Yes, so if you're late, it makes me late," he explained slowly, as though to a five year old. Naruto didn't know how he did it – with every word Sasuke spoke it seemed to deflate him a little, like a flower having its petals ripped off. His voice seemed so lifeless, so lacking in expression, it was unlike anything Naruto had ever heard.

"True!" he chirped suddenly, deciding to force some good spirits into the morning, "and we're wasting even more time standing around here, so let's get going shall we? What lesson have you got first?"

"English Literature."

"Oh, me too. Who's your tutor?" Naruto asked, already beginning to take steps towards the allocated corridor, Sasuke stuffing his hands in his pockets and following.

"Uchiha-sensei," he replied shortly.

"Me too!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, smiling cheerfully as he turned back to look at Sasuke, just in time to see him roll his eyes. Naruto pouted – '_God, I'm not that bad am I?_' he thought, continuing walking without saying another word. That is, until something else slid into place. "Hey! Uchiha-sensei, he's your brother right?"

"Sadly." Naruto laughed.

"Haha, yeah, I know what you mean – he can be a real hard ass," Naruto chuckled, "I can only imagine what it'd be like growing up with him. Or _living_ with him for that matter!" he continued, completely tactlessly as per usual, not noticing Sasuke's expression darkening with every word he spoke.

"I still _do_ live with him," the other boy snarled, causing Naruto's chuckles to come to an abrupt halt. The blonde cursed his incessant idiocy, and for one scary moment doubted whether he would ever be able to get Sasuke to like him – whenever he spoke to him he only seemed to worsen their 'relationship', and he wasn't even sure whether that poisonous glare he was constantly receiving was standard for everyone or specially reserved for him and his big mouth.

"Ha, yeah… well, like I said… great guy," Naruto tailed off weakly, dragging his feet around the corner into the English corridor towards their classroom door. It was only as he reached out for the brass knob that a shudder of apprehension ran down his spine – he was late for Uchiha-sensei's lesson – the man, the tyrant, the one teacher whom Naruto couldn't get away with first-naming. Taking a deep breath, he entered.

"Sorry I'm late, Uchiha-sensei!" he automatically hollered as soon as his head was through the frame, the class united in a communal groan as their loud-mouthed fellow student entered, followed by Sasuke. Uchiha-sensei appraised him boredly from his desk chair, and Naruto was suddenly struck with how amazingly similar he was to Sasuke – the hair, the eyes, the mouth…

"I expect it of you, you moron, but why are _you_ late Sasuke?" Itachi drawled. Naruto frowned at the insult.

"It's my fault, sensei, I was late and I'm the one who's supposed to show him to his classes," Naruto explained in spite of his injured pride, cutting across Sasuke who had opened his mouth to speak.

"I'd have hoped some responsibility might have inspired you to arrive on time, Uzumaki. Now get out, Kaka–" he stopped suddenly, clearing his throat, "_Hatake_-sensei has asked that you pay him a visit."

"Yes sir," Naruto responded, turning and heading right back into the corridor he had just entered from, hearing an abrupt _'You sit down' _directed at Sasuke from their tutor as he closed the door behind him. Naruto proceeded to bound down the winding passages around the college towards Kakashi-sensei's office, wondering what terrible feat he had in store for him. He grimaced as he remembered he didn't have a draft of his coursework as the headmistress had ordered him to produce by that morning.

He eventually reached the small wooden door in the centre of the physics labs, adorned with a small brass plaque which read: '_Hatake K. Head of Physics_.' The blonde knocked tentatively against the door, and was shortly after met with a brief '_Enter!'_

"You asked to see me, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he slid through the door, feigning as much politeness as was humanly possible. The science teacher was sitting in his chair, legs slightly apart, a long white lab coat scuffing the tiled floor. Hatake-sensei was undoubtedly one of the college's most… popular tutors, particularly amongst the females, staff and students alike. Naruto grimaced slightly as he remembered Sakura stating enthusiastically that she '_wouldn't kick _him_ out of bed'_ not a week ago.

"Yes," the silver-haired older man replied in a curt tone that was quite unlike the one Naruto was accustomed to. "Sit down please, Uzumaki-san," he gestured towards the chair directly facing his desk. Naruto followed orders, perching on the edge of the wooden frame as he chewed his lip and gazed uncertainly at Kakashi; up close, Naruto thought he looked a little ill, or at least stressed.

"Er…" the blonde began when the other didn't speak, but merely clasped his hands and gazed intently at him. "If this is about the coursework, see, what happened was my dog, right? Yeah, well he–"

"Uzumaki-san, this is not related in any way to your elusive coursework," Kakashi cut across Naruto's nonsense, "can you think what else I could possibly want to see you about?" A silver eyebrow raised as he dropped his joined hands to his desk with a soft 'thud'. '_Uh oh, does he know?'_ Naruto panicked, remembering his shameless gossiping from the day before – _'it was for a good cause, I suppose'_ he consoled himself, deciding to play dumb in case Hatake-sensei had something completely different in mind.

"Nope, can't think of anything," he replied in a voice so overstuffed with innocence he knew immediately just wouldn't cut it with _this_ teacher. Gai-sensei maybe, but not Kakashi.

"Oh, so it wasn't you who spread the story of myself and Uchiha-sensei behind the gym around the college?" Hatake-sensei asked calmly, unaware that he had just given away something big, something positively _huge_ – Naruto's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, his mouth falling open as he gaped at the physics teacher. It took a few moments, thirty seconds perhaps, until Kakashi realised something was wrong. His own eyes widened, staring dumbfounded at Naruto before clapping both hands over his face, placing his elbows on the desk in front. "You didn't know it was Uchiha-sensei, did you?" he mumbled dejectedly through his fingers, knowing the answer before it had even left Naruto's mouth.

"No," the blonde found his voice, a myriad of thoughts running through his head – Sasuke's brother and Kakashi?! The two most lusted-after teachers in the entire building getting it on?! _'Boy, the girls would have an absolute field day off this!'_ he thought amusedly. After several tense moments, Kakashi's hands slid from his face, landing with a morose 'plop' on his lap.

"I suppose you're going to rush out and spread this around the moment I dismiss you?" he asked, ending Naruto's comical mental images of Sakura chasing the two men around with a video camera. Blue eyes snapped into focus upon the older man's face – _'Geez, he looks really tired,'_ the boy noticed, seeing red, puffy eyes and a pallid complexion. _'Maybe I should cut him some slack.'_

"'Course not," Naruto replied cheerily, Kakashi's countenance becoming thoroughly suspicious. "Seriously, I'll keep it a secret."

"Do… do you promise?" the teacher asked warily. Naruto was hit with a sudden rush of power, hearing this teacher pleading with him, knowing he'd probably do anything to keep the whole thing under wraps.

"If…"

"If what?" Kakashi asked hurriedly, dreading what was about to come out of his student's mouth.

"If, I don't have to do any homework for a month!" the blonde exclaimed triumphantly, evidently having decided this was a befitting price to pay for having to live with the burden of such a secret. The silver-haired man looked thoughtful for a moment, before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Done." The two of them shook hands, and Naruto was quickly eschewed from the office and told to make his way quickly back to lesson.

"Got a message you wanna pass on to Uchiha-sensei?" Naruto grinned as Kakashi was about to close the door behind him.

"No! Now get out of here!" was his raised reply as the door was slammed in the boy's face, though not before Naruto had caught sight of the blush that had swallowed Kakashi's face. Still smirking to himself, and rather pleased with the way things had gone, he began to make his way back to his English classroom. Realising it would seem rather strange if he practically skipped back into the room after supposedly being reprimanded, Naruto put on his best angry-face before he pushed open the door and began to make his way to his seat. He almost made it as well, had he not been struck with such inspiration that it was hard to resist; feigning that he had forgotten something, Naruto made his way up to where Uchiha-sensei was sitting at his desk, bent down until he was level with his teacher's ear, and whispered:

"Kakashi-sensei said he can't stop thinking about you, and can't wait until your next free lesson," in the most seductive voice he could muster, before he turned and headed towards the back of the classroom where his seat was. He finally sat, looking up intently at Uchiha-sensei – his English teacher never did show much expression at the most critical of times, but he could have sworn that the _smallest_, the _slightest_, the most _insignificant_ tinge of pink had crept onto his cheeks.

'_Score! Now he knows that I know,'_ Naruto mentally punched a fist to the air, figuring that Itachi would have to be nicer to him, having always had somewhat of a grudge against the blonde haired idiot. Naruto smiled contemplatively, not realising that the lesson's work had been written on the board and everyone but himself was hard at work.

"What did you whisper to him?" a voice came suddenly down Naruto's left ear, causing him to release quite an unmanly squeak as he almost tumbled sideways off his chair; looking at the seat next to him as he steadied himself he saw Sasuke staring at him, looking, as always, more than pissed off with him for some unfathomable reason.

"That, my friend, is confidential information," Naruto replied, tapping his nose, deciding it would be better not to divulge the news of his brother's little affair for better reasons than his promise to Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke looked less than impressed, yet did not pursue the subject and instead turned to continue with his work – Naruto decided it would probably be a good idea if he followed suite, and so unpacked his pad of paper, a pen and began the lesson's tasks, not wanting to push his rattled teacher over the metaphorical edge.

There were perhaps ten minutes of silence, save the scratching of pens and the occasional cough or muttering from a few students, before _it_ happened again. Naruto was busy pondering over what Shakespeare was trying to say in passage X, along with trying to remember the lunch room menu for Tuesdays, but was interrupted by a loud _'thud!'_ on the table to the left of his seat. His head snapped immediately towards the source of the sudden noise, and Naruto was hit with a strange sense of _de ja vu_ as he saw Sasuke face down on the desk, though this time he had not landed on a pallet full of paint and instead on his exercise book.

Thankfully, Naruto saw that not many people had heard this time as he hurriedly scanned the room, although that wouldn't last for long as Sasuke's snores increased in volume with every breath he took; there was one person who _had_ noticed though, and he was currently making his way from his seat at the front of the classroom towards their row of tables at the back, a booklet clutched in his hand and a worryingly stern look on his face – Uchiha-sensei had noticed.

Naruto's hand scurried to Sasuke's shoulder, shaking him violently as he watched their teacher draw closer. "Sasuke! Sasuke!" he whispered urgently, but to no response. He slid his hand upwards and grabbed onto the boy's black hair, and – _'Damn, this is some soft hair!'_ – began to tug at it desperately, not one bit liking the look in their approaching sensei's eyes; the number of people watching the proceedings had increased to include almost the entire class, and Naruto let his hand fall solemnly to his side, admitting defeat.

The students watched as their teacher grasped the booklet he was holding with both hands, rolled it into a tight cylinder, and collectively gasped as he brought it with a resounding 'slap!' upon Sasuke's sleeping head – Naruto felt an unexpected anger suddenly coil up inside his stomach, and he was about ready to leap out of his seat and begin to berate his teacher before the dark haired boy stirred, a hand coming up to rub the offended area at the back of his head as he sat up to see who his attacker was. His eyes flicked from the wad of papers still clasped tightly by his brother up to Itachi's face, which still looked somewhat severe.

'_Shit! I'm supposed to do something stupid when this happens!'_ Naruto recalled, his mind jumping to the conversation that had followed the incident from Art class the previous day where he had promised to take everyone's mind off whenever Sasuke's narcolepsy showed up. _'What should I do?! I could tell everyone about Uchiha-sensei and Kakashi-sensei… but I promised I wouldn't – and besides, I can't play the same trick twice,' _Naruto's mind was in overload, different pranks ran through his head like a reel of continuous film, he tried to think of a different piece of gossip he could spout, _'Lee fancies Sakura? Hinata bought a vibrator off Ebay? Kiba? Chouji? Hotdogs? Shikamaru?'_

"ARGH!" he yelled in frustration, dropping his head to the desk resignedly.

"Whoa! It happened to Naruto too!" he heard some girl squeak from the other end of the room. _'Stupid cow… thinks I've fallen asleep'_ Naruto thought angrily, unable to comprehend the reason he was unable to cause spontaneous mayhem. _'Wait a minute… that's it!'_

Naruto began to breathe heavily, pretending to snore, feeling the stares of the whole room on the back of his neck, waiting desperately for… _'SLAP!'_

Bingo! The blonde sat up hurriedly, and pretended to be thoroughly disconcerted as he peered blearily around the room at all the concerned faces; well, concerned for the most part – the two Uchihas looking nothing short of baffled, Itachi's wrist lowering slowly after whacking Naruto over the head with his booklet.

"Whoa, that was weird. Hey, Uchiha-sensei? I don't feel so good – I think maybe me and Sasuke have caught a bug or something," he spoke matter-of-factly, willing desperately for their teacher to play along, almost winking at him before remembering that the entire class's eyes were still on them. Itachi's face remained, as always, completely unreadable as Naruto pleaded silently for him to send them out.

"Very well. You and Sasuke are to go to the sick bay and find a nurse – pack up your equipment," was the eventual response, and Naruto could have jumped for joy as he shoved his things haphazardly into his rucksack, mimicked by a bemused looking Sasuke before he grabbed the pale boy's wrist and dragged him out of the room amidst complaints of _'But they both looked fine before!'_ and _'I sure hope I don't catch what they've got'_ from random members of their class.

As soon as the door had clicked shut behind them, Sasuke jerked his arm out of Naruto's grasped and stepped backwards, staring at the taller boy with heated apprehension. Naruto was confused – hadn't he just saved this guy's ass? And he was _still_ glaring at him? The two of them stood in silence, staring at each other for a few moments, for Naruto's part because he was at a total loss of what to say, being rather inept at interpreting other people's feelings. It was Sasuke who finally spoke, his eyes dropping to the ground as he scuffed his shoe lightly on the wooden floor.

"Why did you do that?" he asked shortly, no inflection of emotion in his voice causing it to sound more like a statement than a question. Naruto didn't quite know what to say – he didn't even know himself why he was so desperate to keep Sasuke safe from rumours, but there was something in Sasuke's scrawny frame, his constantly rigid composure, and those eyes that told Naruto so much and yet nothing at all that invoked a primal, raw feeling of need to protect him.

"'Cause… I promised you I would," the blonde replied, unable and unwilling to put his complicated and conflicting emotions into words. Sasuke looked disbelieving, taking his eyes from the floor and fixing them onto Naruto's, causing a distinct feeling of unease in the taller boy – he felt like everything running through his mind was written all over his face. He never was good at being inconspicuous.

"I know. But I never thought you'd actually follow it up," the pale teen stated.

"Well why wouldn't I?"

"You have no reason to," Sasuke replied after a slight pause, quieter this time, before exhaling softly through his nose and leaning back against the brick wall behind him.

"Well, you may not be the most social person I've ever met," Naruto began, grinning – Sasuke snorted. "But I made you a promise and I'm gonna stick to it, and like I said, any excuse to cause trouble is okay in my book."

"You're so strange," the shorter boy commented, which Naruto thought was a bit rich coming from him, but the blonde could have _sworn_ he'd heard a fraction of a hint of amusement in Sasuke's voice, and was too elated to argue. "But thank you," he added. Naruto's smile widened as Sasuke dropped his gaze from his face, and he watched as the dark-haired boy turned and began walking down to the other end of the corridor; Naruto inhaled deeply, preparing to shout after Sasuke to see if he wanted to hang out, but decided that would probably be pushing it a bit – he felt strangely content in the knowledge that Sasuke appreciated what he was doing for him.

"I'll come and find you at the end of lunch!" Naruto yelled just as the other boy disappeared around the corner, to which Sasuke waved a lazy hand over his shoulder to show he had heard. _'Well if that wasn't progress, I don't know what is!'_ Naruto thought happily as he skipped off in the other direction, contemplating the possibilities of what he could do with all the spare time he'd managed to blag.

"Sakura! What're you doing here?" Naruto squeaked, startled out of his daydream as the pink-haired girl suddenly looming over him, blocking his sunlight.

"Same to you! Shouldn't you be in English?" she replied, flopping down on the grass next to her friend, pulling her skirt up slightly so the sun could reach most of her legs – there was a time when Naruto would at this point have practically choked on his own drool, but he and Sakura had become so close that he couldn't think of her in that way without squirming uncomfortably; _'it would be like making out with your sister!'_ he thought disgustedly.

"Careful Sakura, you might cause an explosion of youth if Lee was to come round the corner," Naruto giggled, earning a slap on the arm, but Sakura couldn't quite fight the smirk that crossed her face. "I got out of English early," he continued in response to her question, lying back and closing his eyes again.

"Oh – how come?"

"It's a long story," Naruto sighed, placing his arms behind his head and resting on his hands.

"Well, we've got…" Sakura glanced at her wrist, "two and a half hours until last lesson, including lunch time. So come on, spill." She sounded pretty determined, and Naruto knew she wouldn't quit until she'd wheedled the entire account of what had happened with Sasuke – should he tell her about his narcolepsy? Naruto couldn't remember whether he'd promised not to tell anyone or not, or whether he'd just try and cover it up whenever it happened. He was sure Sakura would keep it to herself if he asked her to, but the thought of divulging something that Sasuke was amazingly prickly about to someone who didn't even know him made Naruto feel rather ill at ease.

"Dunno if I can tell you," he replied, glancing up at her – he realised his mistake immediately as Sakura's eyes flashed excitedly. If he was unwilling to tell something, that must mean it's either extremely private or extremely juicy.

"Oh come on Naruto! You know you can tell me anything," she pleaded, rolling over and sitting up to lean on her forearms, facing Naruto expectantly.

"Yeah I know, but this isn't about me."

"Well who's it about then?" she enquired, possibly even more excited than before.

"Someone else."

"Well _duh,_" Sakura drawled, pulling an idiotic face and rolling her eyes at Naruto. "Stop being stupid and tell me what's going on." Naruto breathed heavily.

"Do you uh… know the new kid?" he began hesitantly, still not completely sure whether or not he should tell Sakura everything.

"Oooh, the Uchiha boy? Yeah, he's in my Chemistry class – is he related to Uchiha-sensei?"

"They're brothers."

"Brothers? Oooh – just one is enough for me! Mmm, Uchiha-sensei. I wouldn't mind bending him over and –"

"_Sakura!_" Naruto quickly cut across before she got altogether too graphic.

"Oops. Sorry, yeah I know the new kid. What about him?" Sakura grinned apologetically – a trait she had learned from Naruto. The blonde boy sighed before he continued, a heavy feeling of guilt settling in his chest even though he hadn't said anything of importance yet. It just felt wrong to discuss Sasuke, but the confused teen couldn't quite put his finger on the reason.

"Well… Tsunade-sama told me to show him to all of his classrooms," he murmured. Sakura waited for him to elaborate for several moments, but when nothing else came, Naruto received another short slap on the arm.

"And?" she goaded.

"And well… he's got kind of – kind of like, a problem," Naruto mumbled, sitting up and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "He's got… wait, promise me if I tell you, you'll keep this a secret?" Sakura's face fell slightly, but she smiled reassuringly.

"Sure thing. Ino will be disappointed though, we haven't had any gossip for days…" she trailed off morosely, scratching her chin.

"My heart bleeds for you."

"Shut up, you don't understand. Okay, I won't tell – what's up with Uchiha-kun?" she asked, propping her head on her hands and continuing to gaze interestedly at Naruto. The blonde began absently ripping up blades of grass as he thought how best to phrase details of Sasuke's illness.

"He sometimes just… he just falls asleep. Like, bang. In the middle of everything," he said, not making eye contact with Sakura and trying to make it sound light-hearted, as though he wasn't completely tied up with wanting to know more about Sasuke and his problem and how he could help, which he was.

"Narcolepsy?" Sakura asked concernedly, startling Naruto as a few straggling pieces of grass fell from his hands. He turned to stare at her, eyes widening.

"You've heard about this before?" he asked, incredulous.

"Of course I have – I want to be a doctor, remember?" she replied, examining her nails. "Not many people – including you it seems – know about it though. I came across it when I was reading a medical journal. It's really quite rare."

Naruto almost imploded with questions, opening and closing his mouth several times wordlessly before deciding on the most important: "Is there a cure?"

"Nope. No cure," Sakura answered. Seeing Naruto's face fall, she continued, "but there is medication that can help control it, he's probably on some kind of steroid."

"But there's no cure…" Naruto repeated quietly, bringing his knees to his chest and twirling a flower he'd just picked between his fingers. _'Well, what could I do even if there was a cure? Go out and buy it for him? He'd think I was an absolute nut-job'_ Naruto mentally berated himself; Sakura watched him intently as his face darkened, blonde eyebrows contracting.

"Why are you so bothered? You've known him for what, two days?" she enquired, finding herself surprisingly interested.

"Yeah, I know but… I don't know," Naruto replied, clearing his throat and absently pushing his flower into Sakura's hair.

"Thanks," she chuckled lightly, "but it's not like you to have a mother-hen complex, Naruto. You've always been a 'look after number one' kinda guy."

"You know I'd do anything for you Sakura-cheeaaaaan," Naruto laughed, leaning over and puckering up his lips like he did all those years ago, when he was young and 'in love'.

"Put those away!" she giggled, punching him playfully on the arm, "but you know I'm right," she went on in a more serious voice – Naruto wasn't going to get off that easily; she wasn't even aware that Naruto could care about someone so much to actually want to help them out of some predicament, let alone someone he'd known for less than a week. She sat up on her knees, directly in front of the blonde teen and awaited a response, noticing the smile had fallen from his face and his eyes had dropped from her face to his shoes.

"Yeah you're right. But if you're looking for a reason why I'm interested I can't tell you, because I don't even know myself," he breathed heavily. "I told him I'd help him out as well – that I'd make a distraction whenever he fell asleep in class so people would forget about it."

"Jesus, Naruto! What's made you take such a shine to him? He's hardly the social butterfly – he just sat at the back of our Chemistry class on his own and didn't even bother introducing himself to the teacher, or anyone."

"I know, right? But there's something about him. I don't know, I can't explain it. It feels like he hates me but I don't know why and I've never been so bothered about stuff like this before – like, if you told me right now that… I dunno, Shino hated me, I wouldn't care in the slightest. But I want _him_ to like me. Do you think I just… feel sorry for him or something?" Naruto finished his outpour with a confused, agitated glare at Sakura, as though it was her fault he couldn't understand his own feelings; she looked at him intently, biting her lip hesitantly before opening her mouth to reply.

"No… I don't think it's just you feeling sorry for him – that wouldn't make you want him to like you, it'd only explain why you want to help him," she mused, speaking slowly. "If I didn't know better I'd say you had a crush on him," she laughed weakly before catching sight of Naruto's steely expression, hurriedly clearing her throat, "but uh, that's obviously not the case. So… I'm left with the conclusion that you've hit your head on something and finally realised that it's important to sometimes take other people's feelings into consideration," she finished, looking up at Naruto who was watching her as intently as if every word she said was gospel. His countenance wrinkled as he comprehended everything she had said.

"But I _haven't_ hit my head! And I still don't know why I want that complete arsehole to like me!" he snapped irately, throwing himself back into a lying position and covering his face with his arms - the darkness pressed against his eyelids however, only served as a projector for his mind – Sasuke in Tsunade's office, Sasuke painting him in Art, Sasuke falling asleep in his pallet, Sasuke scrubbing his face clean in the toilets, coloured rivulets of water running down his face… Sakura watched him sadly, coming to her own silent conclusion but deciding not to let Naruto know about it – somehow she got the feeling he wouldn't be too keen.

"Well, it seems like this is something you'll have to work out yourself," she said softly, patting Naruto on the leg consolingly before lying down next to him and peeling his arms away from his head. "Chin up blondie. Let's talk about something else." Receiving a non-committal grunt from Naruto, she scanned her mind for something interesting she could change to subject to. "Oh! Are you going to the dance this Saturday?" she asked excitedly, remembering the Easter Ball the college had planned. "You get a free Easter egg," she added, hoping to coax Naruto into some sort of enthusiasm by bringing chocolate into the equation.

"Maybe," he sighed, "will I have to bring a date?"

"Nah, not if you don't want to, or of course… you can't find anyone," she grinned, Naruto raised his head, his face a vision of theatrical shock.

"Are you saying that I, Uzumaki Naruto, the most charming young man in this entire college will be unable to find a date for this weekend?"

"I'm saying that you've left it a bit late. Of course, you could always ask Uchiha-kun if he'd go with you."

"Oi!" Naruto exclaimed, nudging Sakura's side so she rolled over onto her face.

"Oh, are you blushing Naru-chan?" she laughed, crawling over and pushing him back. The pair were soon rolling round the grass amidst grunts and girly squeals from both parties, before they eventually both collapsed, gasping for breath.

"Wasn't… blushing…" Naruto panted, wiping sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his t-shirt.

"I know," Sakura wheezed in response, and the two lay there for the remainder of their lunch time, soaking up the sunshine.

"Whoa, whoa – what time is it?" Naruto asked suddenly, sitting up from his heat-induced stupor and turning to Sakura. "Oi!" he yelled, grabbing her shoulder and shaking until the pink-headed girl opened a bleary eye.

"Un?"

"We fell asleep. What time is it?" he asked hastily as Sakura sat up, yawned and glanced at her watch. Her eyes widened slightly and she groaned, getting immediately to her feet and stretching.

"It's five minutes to lesson – Sannin-sama will explode if I'm late for Physical Ed," she explained. "See you later, Naruto!" she shouted over her shoulder as she sped off towards the sport's building. Naruto groaned – he also had Phys. Ed., but with a much more formidable tutor – Gai-sensei. Shuddering slightly as he thought of their spandex-clad instructor, Naruto pushed himself to his feet, scratching the back of his head. _'Now to find Sasuke…'_

Five minutes was not a long time to search the entire college for the Uchiha, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to move at any great speed, still partly asleep from his and Sakura's little doze and because he wasn't exactly over-enthused to get to his lesson; he knew Sasuke would be mad with him if he was late for the second time that day, so he made an effort to drag his feet across the grass towards the main building a little faster. He passed into the shade of a large oak tree, stopping for a moment to relish how cool it was compared to the fierce glare of the sun on his back.

'_Ugh, better get going, got to find… hang on a second…'_ he halted, gazing around for the source of a strange noise that had just carried to his ears – it sounded like a tractor, but why would a tractor be on college grounds? Naruto looked upwards, for the sake of it, and almost yelped in surprise as his eyes fell upon his quarry sprawled across the lowest branch of the tree, sleeping soundly, arms and legs dangling down with his cheek pressed firmly to the bark.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto cupped a hand around his mouth and called up to him, not really expecting a response, and not receiving one as Sasuke continued to snore loudly without stirring in the slightest. Naruto walked a little closer to the branch, looking up at the dark-haired boy's peaceful face; it was strange the way all of the hate he emitted when awake seemed to dissipate completely as he slept. The blonde smiled slightly, toying with the idea of leaving Sasuke sleeping serenely in his tree, but deciding he'd undoubtedly be more than a little angry with him when he woke up.

Sighing resignedly, Naruto reached up and grabbed hold of Sasuke's ankle, which was just in his reach, and shook it slightly. "Sasuke! Wake up!" he tried again, but to no positive effect. _'Geez, when he sleeps, he sleeps hard'_, Naruto rolled his eyes, getting a better grip on the other boy's leg before pulling it slightly harder. "Wake up, you lazy bastard!" he yelled a little louder this time – Sasuke mumbled indistinctly in his sleep, but still refused to wake. Naruto frowned – _'he's going to make _himself_ late for lesson at this rate!'_

Naruto huffed angrily, placing his hands on his hips as he glared up at the snoozing Sasuke. He looked around the trunk of the tree for some sort of stick, or even an acorn he could throw up at him, but there was nothing; Gai would undoubtedly make them both do fifty laps around the track for every second they were late for his lesson – Naruto's apprehension growing as he knew Gai-sensei was not one to abide by council-set laws against child abuse. He stalked back over to Sasuke, grabbing his ankle for a second time. "Get…" he growled, "_down!_" as he gave the boy's skinny leg an almighty yank.

'_Uh-oh!'_ was all that flashed through Naruto's mind as he watched, as if in slow motion, Sasuke sliding off his branch towards him – "Eeargh!"

Sasuke landed in Naruto's arms with a muffled '_flump!_', the blonde having caught the other bridal style as he crashed down into him. _'Shit, he's way lighter than I thought he'd be!'_ Naruto thought as he steadied himself. He gazed down at the other's pale and, despite everything, _still_ sleeping face, and couldn't contain a small laugh escaping, even though he didn't find anything about what had just happened remotely amusing. A light, warm breeze suddenly rushed through the drooping branches of the oak tree they were under, sweeping upwards from underneath them both and up, ruffling their hair. Naruto noticed a strange scent on the air, something strange, something foreign, something unlike anything he'd ever smelt before – he wrinkled his nose and looked around before he realised that it was _Sasuke_ he was smelling, causing him to wobble slightly as he felt suddenly quite light-headed.

Just as he was about to set the boy down, Naruto jarred as he saw Sasuke's eyes opening slowly – _'shit, what's he gonna think?!'_ Naruto looked around desperately, panicking over what to do, before he looked back down at the boy's face to see a pair of black eyes staring, completely bewildered at him.

"Erm…" Naruto began nervously, his palms growing sweaty.

"Put me down," Sasuke ordered calmly, Naruto only to happy to comply as he promptly dropped Sasuke from his arms, causing the smaller boy to land sprawled on the ground. Naruto immediately reached down to help him up, only for his hand to be swatted away by the clearly pissed off Uchiha.

"Nice one," he growled, getting to his feet before brushing the dirt off his clothes with his hands. "Why were you holding me?" he asked curtly, and although this sounded like a question Naruto could trace no curiosity in the other boy's voice – in spite of this, and willing himself manically to calm down, Naruto blushed slightly as he looked Sasuke in the face to answer.

"Uh, well… you kind of like, fell out of the tree. And I caught you," the blonde explained, wondering why he hadn't placed Sasuke down straight after he'd caught him, and why he'd stopped to _smell_ him? _'If I didn't know better, I'd say you had a crush on him'_ – Sakura's words echoed completely unwelcome in his ears. Naruto looked down and fiddled with the waistband of his trousers, wishing Sasuke would say something into the silence that had followed his last statement.

"Oh. Don't we have a lesson?" eventually permeated the thick atmosphere, as Sasuke turned and walked out of the shade of the oak tree towards the main building. Naruto, slightly confused but altogether thankful at the cessation of the awkward moment, jogged until he was walking alongside Sasuke. "I won't tell if you won't," the dark-haired boy spoke as he felt Naruto's presence to his left, Naruto turning to look at him – he was… _smiling?_ Well, in truth it was more of a smirk, but it nonetheless put Naruto at ease as he laughed, though restrained himself from smacking the other boy playfully on the shoulder.

"Sure thing," he replied as he guided Sasuke towards the sport's building for their Physical Education lesson.

How nasty is Naruto? Haha, I have such a habit of making my main characters too similar to myself, and to be frank, I suck. I was also going to include the Phys. Ed. lesson but thought that the chapter might get a bit long – it's actually the longest chapter I've ever written in any story.

I'll reply to all reviews this time via private message, because I feel really rude for not replying for the one's I got for Chap. 1. Constructive criticism is really, really sexy. As is telling me what you liked/disliked about whatever part of the story, so I know what to include less and more of.

Till next time lovelies! C:


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